Gagosian Debuts Works by Takashi Murakami in Le Bourget

Last week, Gagosian debuted an exhibition of work by Takashi Murakami at its airport-turned-gallery space in Le Bourget, France. On view through December 10, “Understanding the New Cognitive Domain” highlights a suite of Murakami’s monumental paintings, which take center stage alongside more moderately-scaled wall-hanging works, sculptures, and an NFT-related component that offers commentary on the vast nature of Murakami’s artistic practice.

The show includes multiple compositions of great measurements, which sit proportionally in the spacious interior of the former flight hangar. Murakami’s new work 2020 The Name Succession of Ichikawa Danjūrō XIII, Hakuen, Kabuki Jūhachiban, (standing 16 feet tall and more than 75 feet wide) was made in reference to the artist’s recent stage curtain for the Kabuki-za theater in Ginza, Tokyo, commissioned by the director Takashi Miike in celebration of the actor and producer Ichikawa Ebizō XI’s assumption of the name Ichikawa Danjūrō XIII (part of a tradition of Kabuki stage names). Seen here for the first time, the painting has been installed on one of the space’s central walls, where illustrations of Kabuki art tower above viewers in vibrant colors.

"When I was thinking about Kabuki, the idea came from the 1970s in Japanese game culture," Murakami told Whitewall at the opening of his show. "I was a high school kid and a lot of memories brought up my youth [in] the traditional Kabuki theater."

Nearby, installed in a similar fashion, the Dragon in Clouds - Indigo Blue (2010) depicts the Buddhist symbol of good fortune and optimism, inspired by the Japanese artist Soga Shōhaku’s 1763 painting Dragon and Clouds. Murakami looked to Mike Kelley’s Pay for Your Pleasure (1988)—consisting of famous creators and quotes about creative genius in another large composition—and offered his own take on the work with a twist that includes video game depictions of figures in a spectrum of colors.

Further into the space, viewers will find works representing Murakami’s iconic oeuvre that we know and cherish, including a selection of lucky cat paintings that reference recent NFTs, rainbow-hued neon lights, and works featuring his iconic smiling flower motif. The show also highlights the artist’s dualistic practice that spans traditional Japanese art, pop culture, and technology through a physical iteration of his anime-style NFT avatars (made with RTFKT Studios in 2021) and a special NFT gift that was given to viewers only on opening day, which was minted on-demand at the time of their visit.